What are symptoms of bad wiring harness?

Can any body tell me what the symptoms of a bad wiring harness are? I ask because I have a '96 c280 with 86k miles that exhibits the following symptom:

1. When accelerator is applied from a dead stop a popping sound is emitted than car suddenly idles rough as is some of the spark plugs have stopped firing.

2. To reset the problem I have to switch off and restart the car and every thing's fine. At this point the car is drivable, but I simply can't accelerate suddenly, it has to be done slowly and gradually to pick up speed.

I suspect either a faulty wiring harness or a vacuum leak. Can anybody help????

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I had this problem with a 90 miata that drove me nuts for 6mos. Only clue was an air flow meter trouble code (even after replacing the air flow meter) Two dealerships, and several forums only to find out after I pulled apart an aftermarket (jackson racing) cold air induction wiring harness (brand new) and found 1 wire freyed (sp?) touching the other wires causing the car to bog down and stall out when I hit the excelerator to quickly. good luck.